Introduction Top
Hi guys,
I'm RxyDxy, a SEA player who is currently Hotness rank, although I did reach POA bronze a few seasons back, and I have played quite a few RTS and MOBA computer games before, in case you want some form of credibility regarding my theory-crafting. This is my first guide, so I apologise if it is very rough since I kinda did this late in the night for fun. The reason why I made this guide was mainly because I'm kinda sick and tired of seeing terrible builds on Taka (most of which tend to be on my team =.=) Taka isn't exactly my favourite hero, but I think that a lot of people even at Hotness level are playing him terribly, and I hope that this guide will help people build the hero a lot better and unlock his full potential. This guide kinda assumes you already know how the hero works, so I won't really delve into how to play the hero.(you should already know some Taka basics like how Kaiten can dodge important disables and that you should try to use Kaku only after you run into a bush for added confusion, avoiding high commitment fights when Kaku is on cooldown) Rather, I aim to explain the rationale for why certain items should be bought and why they should not, as well as a bit of discussion regarding drafting.
Hero Basics Top
This guide isn't meant to be extremely comprehensive but a rough guide as to what to build based on how the hero is supposed to be played. Basic game sense issues like buying the correct defense against the biggest threat to your hero's existence in the game should be something you should already know (come on this isn't Dota 2 how much easier can this get but people still can't do this right)
Taka is obviously this ninja assassin whose job is to make people explode instantly then disappear and make opponents abandon all hope of ever catching him again. So below are some of the very basic characteristics of Taka which is pretty much the minimum you need to know:
1. Bursty CP hero
2. Squishy (mitigated by effective Kaku usage)
3. Not a fast farmer until he gets his items
4. Lacks disables
So basically what you want is a build that helps Taka to execute people quickly, and make yourself such a threat that everyone will want to focus you down, only to fail to kill you as you Kaku away and let the rest of your team mop them up. To achieve this, the clear solution: Lots of CP damage!
So that kinda sums up Taka's characteristics, so now I will explain the item builds.
Explaining the Builds Top
1. Snowball Build
This build is good only if at least one of these things is true:
1. Very little action early game
2. Lower skill games where people don't buy defense items
3. Squishy heroes everywhere
4. You're dominanting early game
Taka's CP ratio on X-Retsu is really high, which this build really shines through when you one shot the Ringo with no defense items, so SG will make full use of the CP ratio. His Kaku heal is also dependent CP, so SG is perfect for helping you to survive as well.
Clockwork is the next item to get after SG, because if you're already dominant in this game, lower cooldowns make you even more dominant. The recent buff to Clockwork where you amplify your CP dmg by 30% is also really good for making Taka even more bursty. This also lowers Kaku cooldown which makes you even more slippery.
These two are generally core on Taka for this build. Once it hits late game BM is definitely a must, especially against better players who will buy Aegis to try to mitigate your burst. After that, Aftershock is usually a decent pickup, since everyone will probably be quite tanky once it hits late game. For defense, I usually don't bother because if you play Taka right you shouldn't need that much defense. If you dodge spells with Kaiten correctly and Kaku at appropriate moments you should be fine. Nevertheless, Aegis is good if you're facing a lot of disables that you can't dodge properly (eg. Koshka's ult) Atlas is the slightly inferior choice, since you really don't need armor because you shouldn't be manfighting anyone in the first place unless they are really low, but it is good for attack speed reliant heroes like Glaive or Krul, and this also frees up a slot for your support to buy something else. However, because I usually buy Aegis over this, I tend to skip Atlas anyways, in order to maximize my damage.
2. Aftershock Rush
This build is good if at least 1 of the following is true:
1. A lot of tanky heroes (Glaive, Lance)
2. You're not doing so well early game
3. You want accomplish more early game
Aftershock is much cheaper than SG, and it's good against tanky heroes that you can't burst down as fast. I like getting this early also because it allows me to start contributing to fights a lot earlier than if I went SG. As the name suggests, snowball build is good if you're snowballing duh. But in a more even game, or even if you're playing from behind, Aftershock gives you a bit of everything while still helping you to contribute to fights (damage, anti-tank, lower cooldowns, lifesteal)
Broken Myth is the next item to amplify Aftershock procs. Generally you must get this item regardless of the situation because it synergises with every CP hero in the game, and it can help you kill those tanky heroes a lot quicker.
Into late game, Aegis or Atlas again, as usual, maybe as a 3rd item especially in games where you are finding hard to stay alive in fights. After defense it's good to get SG for the damage as usual cos you're not really going to get anywhere other than by building damage.
After this I think Clockwork/Eve is kind of an either/or, Eve is good for sustaining fights with the lifesteal but IMO you don't really need this unless even Kaku is not enough for you. On the flipside, high burst also means a lot of lifesteal so Eve can be a good choice if you prefer survivability over teamfight contribution. Also please don't ever buy Eve as a first item. Lifesteal without damage is worthless, like just look at the puny green numbers not worth at all pls.
So that kinda sums up the builds, now i'll move on to items you should generally avoid.
Sins that You Need to Repent From Top
1. WEAPON BUILDS
Big no no. Why? Taka's ability set is centered around burst damage. Things like Tension Bow only give you that much in the early game, but once it hits late that Tension Bow can be thrown in the junk. Taka is meant to jump in, execute someone, then disappear and hide. He is also very squishy, so you can't sustain fights with weapon Taka. (unless you are very far ahead which just means you're playing against really bad opponents) Imagine a Taka going toe to toe with a Glaive (lel get rekt). Taka is not meant to be played as a weapon hero and weapon builds fail to bring Taka to his fullest potential.
2. STORMCROWN
I see this item very often actually and I think it's not a good idea. Taka is a slow farmer that's for sure, which is why this item is bought so Taka can auto attack jungle creeps to death. However this item is just bad on Taka for multiple reasons. Firstly, Taka is a burst hero. Stormcrown adds virtually nothing to Taka's lethality other than a bit of cooldown. It's also very expensive (2,200 gold if I am not wrong), which you could have just bought an Aftershock and done so much more. Many times I see this hero build when I'm something squishy and then I thank the heavens because it means I don't even need to buy defense cos this Taka is never going to kill me. Like why would you even buy this please doesn't your heart sink when you jump a Vox and see his health go down by a very measly 1 bar? Why not buy crystal items and half his life in one shot? Besides, once you get items, Taka actually farms jungle creeps really fast. Use your spells on the creeps and watch their heads explode.
3. FROSTBURN/SHIVERSTEEL
Frostburn is okay for the damage, but I pick SG over frostburn for 2 reasons: Firstly, SG does more damage than Frostburn, which is what you need for a burst hero. Secondly, the slow is not so useful, because you're not looking for sustained damage (like Skye, for instance, whom Frostburn is core and anything else just reveals that you have no idea how to unlock the hero's full potential) Likewise Shiversteel doesn't do much for you: You're very squishy anyways so that extra health won't do wonders, the slow, like Frostburn doesn't really help you do your job, so yeah. Slows can be useful for your teammates though, but generally this can be left to the support to build, while you focus on increasing your damage.
4. CRUCIBLE
Aegis gives more survivalbility (for this go check out guides on Effective HP to understand why Aegis makes you tankier than Crucible)
5. METAL JACKET
Armor isn't a big need for Taka, unless you really keep getting caught by a Glaive then I guess fine, build what you need to stay alive. The only time this is good is against WP burst heroes like Kestrel and Joule. (especially Joule, which is a terrible Bonesaw carrier btw) More attack speed reliant carries like SAW an Glaive you might as well get Atlas.
6. ALTERNATING CURRENT
You're a burst hero, not a manfighter. Need I say more?
7. FOUNTAIN OF RENEWAL
Your Kaku is a fountain. Save the slot for something more useful.
Hero Counters and Synergy Top
The last part of this guide will involve a bit more discussion on drafting specifically around Taka. In ranked games sometimes I get terrible drafts (eg. banning a WP lane hero like Kestrel, then 1st picking a CP jungler leaving the laner to have to pick either SAW, Ringo, Gwen, Baron or Joule, all of which are either unstable picks or not that viable in the current meta. Also Vox is not a weapon carry please don't play him as a weapon carry. Know your hero's potential.) And also please don't double WP/double CP, don't get countered 5 minutes into the game with Kinetic Shields. But I digress.
There's a lot of heroes at the moment, so the threat levels are only an indication of what heroes I think you should pick Taka into, and what you should not. (Aka counterpicking) Everything else that I did not mention are heroes that I think Taka doesn't do exceptionally well against, but are also not instant gamebreakers if you draft Taka against them. Besides, the threat meter is kinda useless for casual games because you can't do anything about it anyways once everyone has picked. However, it's a good consideration for ranked games when you're deciding how to draft the superior lineup.
Good against:
1. Squishy heroes
Generally Taka is good against squishies (Ringo, Vox, Celeste) so you should take the opportunity to use these heroes against lineups which are very reliant on squishy heroes to do damage.
2. Immobile heroes
Heroes like Kestrel are highly immobile, leaving you to do pretty much whatever you want to them. Be careful though a good Kestrel will definitely stand in her own fog to fight Taka so if you get stunned while using X-Retsu on Kestrel that's usually GG for you.
Avoid:
3. AOE Damage
Avoid drafting against heroes that have a lot of AOE damage (Eg: Phinn) AOE is very useful to flush Taka out of Kaku especially for teams a bit stingy on detection. These heroes also tend to be better in teamfights, and Taka definitely cannot take on 3 heroes at the same time, even with his burst damage, unless your opponents really suck. Players with good game sense will make full use of this AOE to flush you out of invis and then its GG for you.
4. Tanks
While Taka can deal with tanky heroes using Aftershock, it is also generally not a very good idea to draft Taka against tanks because you can't burst them down fast, and this is a major problem especially when you are behind. A Taka that can't burst anyone is a melee minion that occasionally goes invisible.
5. Early game heroes
Heroes like support Adagio, Koshka, Fortress can really wreck a Taka's early game. Taka is quite item dependent to be useful, and he only really begins to peak once he hits level 6, so try not to pick Taka into aggressive early game compositions. Losing your jungle means losing a lot of farm which will mostly likely translate into losing the game, since the Halcyon Fold is a pretty small place after all.
6. Sticky heroes
Blackfeather and Alpha are probably heroes you don't want to draft against for 2 reasons. Firstly, they can chase you easily. (though BF is quite squishy too so its a bit iffy) Secondly, you want people to focus you without killing you. But problem is if you're running from them, they're going after your lane carry, whom will probably get rekt and die 1v1 while you wait for Kaku's cooldown.
As for heroes that synergize with Taka, basically 2 things:
1. Keeping Taka alive
Ardan is the best at this. His A spell keeps Taka very alive, then Kaku seals the deal and you probably can't kill that Taka ever again.
2. Tankier/elusive laner
Good drafters will definitely bringing in the big muscles to shove Taka out of relevance, so a laner that can take a few hits/avoid said hits will probably be more useful. SAW? (even though I think this hero is trash) Kestrel is also pretty good in this current meta. This is only assuming your opponents draft a lot of tanky heroes who can muscle their way in with impunity (eg Lance/Glaive)
Conclusion Top
Well, that's about it, my first ever guide on VG, hope that you like it and that it has given you some insight into how to play Taka!(and also how not to play Taka) Taka is really one of those heroes that can put people on full tilt when they see their hero explode in one shot and they can do nothing about it, so just remember to build Taka correctly, and watch some heads roll! If you like this guide, then perhaps I might make more, especially for my more preferred heroes haha. Do let me know if you think I should include anything else that you want to know about Taka too.(maybe basic in game Taka specific mechanics that I mentioned earlier? I dunno, you decide)Give chance though, I'm not doing full, comprehensive serious guides so a lot of it is based off my own memory of how the game goes. No detailed calculations for you sorry go check out more professional guides if you're that hardcore.
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